TZOMPANTLI - Tlayohualli (From ’Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force’ LP, 2024)

TZOMPANTLI Tlayohualli From ’Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force’ LP / CD / TAPE / DIGITAL Releasing May 17th, 2024 1. Tetzahuitl 2. Tlayohualli 3. Tlaloc Icuic 4. Chichimecatl 5. Tetzaviztli 6. Otlica Mictlan 7. Icnocuicatl With first album ’Tlazcaltiliztli’, Tzompantli called forth a penetrating strike of Death and Doom Metal like a poisoned arrow through the heart. The band’s foundation in Indigenous / Native rituals, history and lore, and merging of traditional instruments into their sound made for one of 2022’s most uniquely voiced metal records. Now Tzompantli have again been summoned from the smoke of the ancient fires with a new offering at the altar of human sacrifice, ‘Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force’. Fearsomely brutal marches of war-like, percussive Death Metal are contrasted with melancholy passages of longing spirit and entrancing ceremonial invocations to the ancestors. The Tzompantli tribe has greatly expanded on this second album with 10 musicians enlisted in the conjuring of wrathful deities and collection of invader skulls. There has been no shortage of fantastic Death/Doom records in recent years and Tzompantli’s latest entry in the genre’s pantheon demonstrates its continued expansion into wider musical and thematic arenas. The anguished fortitude at the heart of ‘Beating The Drums of Ancestral Force’ exalts in the blood and ash of empire and would be conquerors, a fiery lamentation to centuries of erasure. Tzompantli Tribe: Brian “Itztlakamayeh” Ortiz - Vocals, Rhythm & Lead Guitars, Bass, Folks Instruments & Percussion Manzig “Yohualli” Sanchez - Lead Guitars Eric Delgado - Bass Mateotl Boughton - Lead Guitars Jason “Katulu” Brunes - Vocals, Folks Instruments & Percussion Erol Ulug - Vocals, Lead Guitars Alejandro Aranda - Vocals, Drums, Folks Instruments & Percussion Justin Moore - Vocals Lord Foul - Vocals Mateotl Gonzalez - Folks Instruments & Percussion Justin Ton - Lead Guitars Recorded, produced, mixed & master by Erol Ulug at Bright Light StudiosCover by Adam BurkeAlbum layout by Chimere Noire Photography by Luckee Ngin